Central Mass. police get surplus equipment

Southbridge police recently received a Humvee, or High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, from military surplus.

It's a large and — judging from the faces of pedestrians — intimidating looking four-wheel-drive military automobile.

It wasn't one of the 18-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicles from the war in Iraq, which made news this week because the military gave them to law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

But free is free, and Southbridge authorities appeared pleased with the acquisition, which will be used for special operations and during inclement weather.

The Congress-created 1033 Program permits excess U.S. Department of Defense supplies and equipment to be transferred for free to state and local law enforcement agencies.

More than 37,000 "line items of property" were issued to more than 7,000 law enforcement agencies in fiscal 2013, said Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the military's Defense Logistics Agency in Virginia.

The program has been in existence since the late 1990s.

The most requested items were optics, such as binoculars and sights for weapons, and clothing and vehicles, Ms. McCaskill said.

Civil libertarian groups aren't as happy about the program.

"The police have been becoming more para-militarized ever since the War on Drugs started, and the War on Terror has really exacerbated the problem quite a bit," said Kade Crockford, director of the ACLU of Massachusetts' Technology for Liberty program.

In addition to surplus items, the Department of Homeland Security has increasingly made large sums of money available to police departments to purchase military-grade weapons, tactical gear and surveillance equipment, Ms. McCade said.

Many people, she said, aren't aware of the extent to which police departments "are increasingly behaving" like militaries, she said adding her organization was working on a report on the issue in Massachusetts.

Last year, Southbridge also got 20 M-16 rifles, to add to the three it already got from military surplus, said Sgt. Steven Bellerose, who applies for military surplus items for Southbridge.

All 23 arrived as fully automatic rifles. But not wanting that type of firepower on the street, the department switched them to semiautomatic weapons, for a minimal cost, the sergeant said.

After the 1997 North Hollywood shoot out between two heavily armed bank robbers and Los Angeles police — during which the out-gunned LAPD borrowed rifles from a gun store — many departments have looked at adding rifles to patrols, Sgt. Bellerose said.

"A lot of departments still don't carry rifles and a lot of, say, only SWAT team members or supervisors will have them," he said. "We're lucky enough that we have enough that all of our guys on the road have a rifle, should a school shooting (or something of the like) happen."

Ms. McCaskill, the defense spokeswoman, said the surplus program currently restricts the numbers and types of weapons that may be requisitioned to small arms.

Combat aircraft are not allowed for transfer, she said.

The program allocates weapons based on justifications of need for law enforcement purposes, including counter-drug and counter-terrorism operations, Ms. McCaskill said.

Each justification must be reviewed and approved by a governor-appointed state coordinator, and the officials overseeing the individual law enforcement activities and the state coordinator are responsible for determining whether any request exceeds the community's needs or ability to maintain, she said.

Approximately 10 percent of requisitions are turned down. A primary reason for rejecting a request is the property is not authorized to be allocated outside of the Defense Department, Ms. McCaskill said.

Massachusetts State Police devotes a full-time civilian position to oversee and process requests, spokesman David Procopio said.

The requests appear to have been fairly steady over the years, Mr. Procopio said.

Central Massachusetts appears to be in line with other parts of the state in terms of the number of departments making requests, Mr. Procopio said.

"The program has accountability. We keep careful records and the departments have to show that they are using the equipment as they said they would. It is a good example of federal–local partnerships to enhance public safety and homeland security capabilities," Mr. Procopio said.

Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said it has been a while since the city received anything through the program, but its inventory includes M-16 rifles, two Humvees for inclement weather and two pickup trucks that are used for transporting items such as police barricades, parade equipment, or taking things to and from accident sites.

"They're older trucks — like 1988 — but they were low mileage," the sergeant said. "They work great. We're thankful for having them."

Auburn Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis said officers use the 10 pistols and 19 rifles it received last year from the program for target practice at a firing range.

In addition, the Auburn police department unloads the rifles and allows veterans to fire blanks in honor of fallen veterans during Memorial Day observances, he said.

"These are probably the first items we've acquired from them in probably over 15 years," Chief Sluckis said.

Asked why the agency wouldn't apply more often for free equipment, he said, "We don't apply for things just for the sake of applying for them. The space we have here is limited. We don't have a lot of space to park extra vehicles or anything like that."

In Southbridge, the Humvee had fewer than 4,000 miles on it and was in like-new condition when the sergeant and Chief Daniel R. Charette picked it up in Concord, N.H.

Brand new, it would be worth about $55,000, they said.

The speedometer goes to 60 miles per hour, but the chief said he didn't feel comfortable pushing it more than 55 on the highway.

"It's made for power, not speed," the chief said.

At the base, the Southbridge authorities were told the vehicle could have belonged to "an administrative guy" who used it to go from one office to another.

"This thing certainly does not look like it saw combat — much better condition than I ever thought I'd get for free," added Sgt. Bellerose.

Chief Charette said he also wants it used for community policing. It can be brought to parades, parks and Main Street, where pedestrians have complained about motorists not stopping at crosswalks.

It will be "a real visible piece to say, 'Police are here,' " the chief said.

Another thing to consider is departments have to pay to pick up and return the surplus items.

Once police are done with the equipment they received, the equipment must be returned in working condition.

If the item is used to the point it no longer works, or it has become too costly to maintain, the agency has to notify the military and return it to the military.

Southbridge will have to change its rifles back to automatic weapons before they are returned to the military, Sgt. Bellerose said.